East-side church rebuilding homes and lives in forgotten neighborhood

Anthony Murdock, executive pastor at Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis, stands inside a five-bedroom home in the process of being rehabbed on Priscilla Avenue, where the church has built some new homes and rehabbed others through the Rock Initiative on Monday, April 9, 2018.(Photo: Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar)Buy Photo

Behind Eastern Star Church on Indy's east side, a rebirth is changing the landscape of Priscilla Avenue. New homes are sprouting like spring flowers in a corner of the city where poverty is a familiar neighbor.

Eastern Star, 5750 E. 30th St., has made it its mission to redevelop the long-neglected block from 30th to 31st streets, then move on to others hard hit by an economic decline, as part of its ROCK Initiative.

Renewing Our Community for the Kingdom (ROCK) is a four-pronged plan developed by the church after years of conversations and months of meetings with neighborhood residents and community partners. The goal is to improve the quality of life in an area of the city — specifically the 46218 ZIP code — where 38.2 percent of residents live at or below the poverty line.

Executive Pastor Anthony Murdock said God compels the church and its 10,000 members spread across three campuses to move beyond Sunday services and youth programs to improve the lives of its neighbors, many of whom have limited access to reputable financial institutions, healthy food options, decent housing and educational opportunities.

"To whom much is given, much is required," Murdock said. "If we just kept on doing Sunday morning the way we've been doing it, would that make sense when God's given us more to do? We know that Jesus dealt with the physical needs of people. We feel like this is natural."

So the church has diversified, partnering with community nonprofits to build homes; offer financial, legal and health services; and open a fresh market that will sell healthy food paired with nutrition education.

Murdock will talk about the church's expanded ministry during Thursday's "Push Back Poverty" forum at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. The daylong conference is part of Christian Theological Seminary's Faith & Action Project, launched two years ago to attack poverty in Indianapolis.

Keynote speaker is Elizabeth Hinton, author of "From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America." Hinton will address poverty, racial inequality and barriers to employment and rehabilitation.

“No effort to turn back the tide of poverty will succeed unless we also examine the barriers that keep so many people trapped in poverty,” said CTS Interim President Bill Kincaid. “This conference will dissect barriers such as unemployment, poor education, incarceration and a lack of affordable housing."

Murdock and his staff had to look no farther than across their parking lot to see where to begin their efforts to address poverty in the community. Once a middle-class neighborhood of 1950s bungalows owned by east-side factory workers, this part of the Arlington Woods neighborhood was now home to abandoned and dilapidated structures and empty lots.

In the past 11 months, the church has built five new homes on the west side of Priscilla Avenue, two of them in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity.

Jim Morris, president and CEO of Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity, pointed to Eastern Star's "bold" vision as the impetus for a stronger neighborhood when Habitat's two homes were dedicated in December. The church contributed $180,000, two lots and labor for those homes.

“Collaboration is at the heart of our work," Morris said, "so we are honored to provide quality, affordable homes alongside two local families through the ROCK Initiative at Eastern Star Church.”

But that was just the beginning.

On the east side of the street, the church has bought five abandoned properties and is in the midst of rehabbing them from the foundation up.

Running through the middle of them is a newly paved street — not a pothole to be found. Murdock thanks the city for that, saying it's the first time in 30-plus years that Priscilla has been repaved. "That just brings so much hope," he said.

Buy Photo

A new home sits on Priscilla Ave. built by Eastern Star Church and community partners through the Rock Initiative in Indianapolis on Monday, April 9, 2018. The Rock Initiative is a part of the church's mission to improve the quality of life in the 46218 area through community, housing, finances, and education. (Photo: Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar)

Eastern Star Church has been an anchor in the neighborhood, just east of Emerson Avenue, for 20 years. Its 25-acre campus includes a worship center that holds 2,200, a day-care center operated by Day Early Learning and a Care Center providing emergency food, clothing, counseling and financial aid. The church also has large satellite campuses in Fishers and on the northwest side.

It has invested heavily in its neighborhood — budgeting more than $1 million annually for the Care Center alone. It supports IPS 99, located across the street, with donations of time, talent and treasure, pledging to raise $200,000 for new computer equipment. It awards more than $100,000 each year in scholarships to graduating high school students.

Ashley Gurvitz, the church's community development manager, said "bricks and sticks" are one thing, but investing in people is even more important.

"Our ROCK Initiative is unique because we are really invested in the long term," she said. "We know results aren't going to be immediate. We're looking at ways of disrupting the pathways that have led to poverty and other societal afflictions."

Home ownership is a key component of the ROCK Initiative, Murdock said, because it is one big step on the road to helping people become more self-sufficient.

"When people are trying to move from being dependent to independent, owning something helps that," he said.

Murdock, whose undergraduate degree is in civil engineering, brings his building expertise and management skills to the church's ministry. He tapped a church member to do much of the construction work on the homes, buying materials direct to keep costs down.

A remodeled two-bedroom home without a garage goes for $69,900. Add $10,000 for the same home with a garage. The larger new-construction homes built on land the church already owned were priced from $124,900 to $136,000. All have been sold.

Buy Photo

Anthony Murdock, an Executive Pastor at Eastern Star Church, left, gives a tour of a rehabbed home through The Rock Initiative to the Indy Star and fellow church leaders in Indianapolis on Monday, April 9, 2018. The Rock Initiative is a part of the church's mission to improve the quality of life in the 46218 area through community, housing, finances, and education.(Photo: Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar)

The five-year plan for the ROCK Initiative calls for 25 to 30 new homes in the neighborhood, in addition to affordable apartments currently under construction just west of the church on 30th Street.

A three-story mixed-use facility will house 25 apartments on the top floors and nonprofit community partner agencies on the first floor. Sunstone at Arlington Woods will include a credit union, a legal clinic, behavioral health clinic, cosmetology/barber, a space for entrepreneurs and a market offering fresh produce and other healthy foods.

To accomplish all of this, Eastern Star is relying on its 80-person staff, its generous members, volunteers and community partners, including the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center, the Center for Leadership Development, Center for Congregations, Christian Theological Seminary and Edna Martin Christian Center, to name just a few.

Nancy Silvers Rogers, executive director of ministries and formerly deputy mayor of neighborhoods for the city of Indianapolis, said none of this happens without complete buy-in from church membership.

"We can't get that support without transparency," she said. "People are not going to support what they can't understand and see. It's also about metrics and outcomes."

In addition to the new homes mentioned above, those outcomes over the next decade should include a vibrant neighborhood association, a decline in the percentage of neighborhood residents living in poverty, an increase in the median home value and the median income of residents, and additional financial investment in the neighborhood.

Despite the enormity of the church's undertaking, Silvers Rogers said it is God who has brought together a consortium of corporate, business, state and local leaders to support the mission.

"We looked around the table and said, "My goodness, look at what God has put at the table.' Who knew? God knew. It's just amazing, and we take no credit for that. It is a God thing for us. It brings goosebumps."

And with that comes awesome responsibility, Murdock said.

"We know this would never happen in this impoverished community if we didn't make it happen."